Jack and Suzy’s 20th century advice

In a recent BusinessWeek column, Jack and Suzy Welch wrote a letter to this year’s graduating college class. They were handing out advice on how to succeed in this economy. Their counsel made sense until they came out in favor of “Being There.” Here’s what they wrote:

And if you're thinking of working from home two or three days a week because "it's so easy" and "it doesn't really matter," slap yourself for being unrealistic. Because if you ever want to be a leader, being online is fine but being there is imperative.

… if you're a new employee hoping to achieve work-life balance, we strongly suggest you hold that thought. Hold it, that is, until you've earned some chits with a nice, long run of great performance. In the brave new world of 9%-plus unemployment, flexibility is a reward, not an entitlement.

Their advice makes me cross. If “being there” is so important, then why do successful companies like Cisco, MySQL and Capitol One have such a large proportion of remote workers? They save money because they need less real estate to house their employees. And their employees are less stressed, more focused and happier. After all, happier cows make better cheese. Can’t this work for humans too?

More information at:

Cisco Study Finds Telecommuting Significantly Increases Employee Productivity, Work-Life Flexibility and Job Satisfaction, June 26, 2009.


TOP 10 MYTHS ABOUT MOBILE WORK, Sun Open Work Services Group, August 2008


MANAGING IN A VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION, Sun Open Work Services Group, August 2008


MySQL: Workers in 25 countries with no HQ, FORTUNE, June 1, 2006


Capital One: Going Mobile, HQ, Winter 2009

Videoconferencing parrots

Joe Sharkey, who writes for The New York Times, commented on the growing use of Skype for videoconferencing in a recent article.

He hoped to convince his editor to meet virtually via Skype and avoid the grueling trip from Arizona to NYC. No luck.

But the section of the article that hit me was the part about his two parrots. They love videoconferencing! He writes:

The parrots are early adapters, following the screen image, replying vocally, dancing with joy when motivated. They seem to get it — except that the chatty African grey evidently believes that I am actually inside my wife’s laptop and marches behind the screen to peck at it and get me out. I mean, they’re birds, after all.

Have you experienced anything similar with your pets when videoconferencing?